Comments on: Little White Lab Rat Loses Courage

By: Ben Pratt

Ben Pratt — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:51:49 +0000

I can say without equivocation that the best chicken I ever ate was from a bird I helped prepare myself while on a handcart trek. It went from clucking to plates within an hour or two.

By: Tatiana

Tatiana — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:45:09 +0000

I guess we successfully hide from ourselves what we’re actually doing when we eat meat, and something like this recipe brings it home again. I prefer my meat processed and pre-sliced. I’ll be even gladder when it all comes straight from the hydroponic farms. I don’t like killing cute gentle-spirited animals.

By: Paul Reeve

Paul Reeve — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:33:53 +0000

Mark B.,
Fried, of course, but only if they are from a male cow.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:14:45 +0000

Paul,

The next time we run into each other at Lamb’s, I’ll ask the chef if they’ll whip up a platterful for you. Steamed, fried or broiled?

By: Paul Reeve

Paul Reeve — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:31:42 +0000

Mark B., yes, right you are. As you can tell, I did not minor in gender studies.

Let me correct #19 to male cattle parts, or parts from former bulls that are now steers, or Rocky Mountain Oysters, as my dad called ‘em. Clear enough? Don’t make me draw a picture.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:48:43 +0000

Ah, how much we forget when we move from the ranch to the academy! “Male cow parts”???

I realize that we suffer in English from the lack of a common non-sex linked word for the bovine species, but the last time I checked, cows were still female.

By: Paul Reeve

Paul Reeve — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:18:15 +0000

#15, Thanks a lot Maurine! Beth needs no encouragement, especially not with cow hearts. I grew up in a ranching family. We ate a lot of liver which I enjoy (if it is coated in enough sugar) and my dad ate, uh, well, um, . . . . male cow parts, but we never ate heart, thankfully. Is it any wonder I turned to sugar?

By: Left Field

Left Field — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:06:05 +0000

Sounds delicious. Seriously. Doesn’t anyone eat chicken or turkey hearts? I wish I’d had this recipe a few years ago when a colleague slaughtered an emu. The drumstick meat was a little tough, but the heart was delicious.

By: Eric Boysen

Eric Boysen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:40:32 +0000

The gross stuff would probably be done today by the butcher–it is the sort of thing our foremothers took for granted. Chicken for dinner? Go get the axe, and get ready for a stinky, slimy pluck and chuck (and up-chuck for those of us with weak stomachs) process. After that, the rest is like stuffing a turkey. I’ll have to make this to serve with the dilly bread!

By: Rick Grunder

Rick Grunder — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:54:28 +0000

Ew! And not only is one asked to eat this poor little calfie's heart, but actually to look at it seven extra times (while basting). I wonder, when the heat escapes each time, does the thing sort of collapse a little, as if it were . . . beating . . . ?